Tour of My Room

03 July 2012

OK...so I showed you my room for Open House, but I thought I would take you on a proper tour now. These pictures are a mixture from the entire year. My intention is to focus on the set up of it all, not necessarily the content of what is being learned (if that makes sense). I will show you how my room is organized so that it works for my students and myself. In each section, I have linked to the post that explains in more detail what is going on in that area of my room. Feel free to click, as most of the forms and stuff I talk about are on those posts for free. So without further ado, Room 6.

Here is the view from the front door. This was for Open House (and you have already seen this picture), but I wanted to set it up for you so you sort of know where we are. You can see my storage cabinets, my desk in the back corner, and my back door. I also have my little round table with the black ottomans I bought (instead of making crate seats...I just didn't want to spend the time)

When the students walk in, they see this organization station. Everything they might need to interact with throughout the day is here. The white stand has every type of paper imaginable on it. There is also an "extras box" at the bottom where the kids can find any extra copies they may need. The black bins at the bottom are all of my previously copied homework, morning messages, Calendar sheets, etc....any materials that are premade. I also have the INBOX and OUTBOX. Kids turn in papers to the INBOX always. The OUTBOX is where I put papers to be returned to them. Homework for the week (and checklists for Table Captains) has a place here, as well as the Incident Report forms. Basically everything the kids would need is found in this central location.

Next is our Daily Schedule. I update it each morning when we come in so the kids know what to expect for the day. I also write the exact objectives next to the subject sign. These are on magnets (since my whiteboard is magnetic), so I can move them around, and change them out for things such as specials and assemblies. Click here to get your own cute little cards (that don't actually look like these plain ones)

Along with the Daily Schedule are these other organizational features on my white board. Homework is always the same, so I have a magnet from Vista Print. The other magnet is an attempt to work on statistics. My idea was to have the students use the numbers to figure percents, work on fractions, etc...but it sort of got away from me. This coming year, it is on! I also have a perfect attendance section with the students names. As they are absent, I cross of their name on the year section. The month section starts fresh on the first of the month.

The Word Wall, with Greek and Latin roots on it, is here underneath the whiteboard. I put it here because 1) I want the students to be able to interact with it a bit more and having it low facilitates that and 2) there is no where else to put it ;) In all seriousness though, when we are playing the Root Word Memory game, the kids are accessing the wall all.the.time. Having it at their eye level (since we play the game on the rug) is very, very helpful.

My rug. I love my rug. Many people don't even *think* about having a rug in the upper elementary grades, but I personally couldn't live without it. I call my students up to the rug area as a whole group at least twice a day (during Calendar time and for our daily read aloud) and I use it for small group interaction throughout the day. Even when kids want to get a bit closer to the screen during lessons, they come right up!

I have talked about this endlessly, so I won't bore you with the details, but here is where we find the table points.

All of my behavior management stuff is kept in this one corner here. This is in the front of the room, so everyone can see it, but it isn't obtrusive. First, the rules of the class are hanging there. Next to it is the information for the Classroom Economy. You can see the circle maps of Productive Students that we created on day one of school...still hanging as a reminder for how students should behave. In the very bottom left corner you can see the behavior book. All of the labels the students write their card changes on are in there. What you can not see are the Color Change cards. Those are behind the cupboard, so really no one can see them. The kids know they are there, and when students need to change the cards, they quietly do so.

From the front of the room, you can see my classroom arrangement. I actually have JUST gone back to pods like this after many, many years in a modified E horseshoe thing. Even with the horseshoe, my students did still work in cooperative groups though. They just turned their chairs around!

I teach from the front of the room (hence another reason for the rug...teaching space!) Because of this, I have my "teaching station" front and center. It really just turns into a second desk for me, but it is nice to be able to sit in front, do the teaching, and monitor everyone all from a central spot. (this picture is an up close one...the one above is the overview of it!)

My small group table is a FAVORITE amongst my kids. They love the little Ottoman
chairs that I have there for them. These chairs are part storage, part sitting space and 100% a sought after sitting area in my room. (the ones I linked aren't the exact ones, but they are close enough so you can see what they look like...just ignore the football logo!)

My library is sectioned off into three main categories: Fiction (black), Non-Fiction (pink), and themes (blue). Then, the bins are further categorized. I LOVE it. Since the books are all labeled, it makes it easier to put the books in the correct bins. Honestly, since doing this a few years ago, my life has gotten SO much easier when it comes to the library! Here is more information on exactly how I did it.

This is my science corner. I like to put all of my "like" work in one area of the room. Just makes me feel better when things aren't spread all over the place. I have a math section (where my math workshop stuff and calendar area is), a reading response section near the library, etc....And since I integrate most of my subjects, I don't really have a "language arts section" as language arts sort of falls in all of the sections, if that makes sense.

This math workshop area has moved since this picture, but you get the idea of what is going on here. My students use this area to access the information they need during workshop time. Similar to the organization station at the front of the room, this is where all of the materials for Math Workshop are kept. Keeps me organized as well as the students. The Lightning Rod is also here.

So that is it. There is a basic photo-tour of where I spend most of my day. I hope you were able to gain some sense of where I am blogging from and how it all is flowing together. Thank you for joining me on the tour :) And I will leave you with the picture I exited my room with for the summer. A clean slate for the new year!

What is great, is that TBA is having a Classroom Tour linky party! If you would like to see more rooms, click on the button, and head on over!!

Debbie Clement, at Rainbows within Reach is also having a linky! Head over and see more classrooms and how they organize stuff!

I love your classroom. I never had thought about putting my desks all the way in the back with the large space in the front. I take it that the kids can see alright? Love the bookshelves at the ends of the groups, love everything!

Thanks =) I'm in a portable, and I would love to figure out a way to get my carpet area in the front of the room - right now it's in the back corner, but the kids in the back are already complaining about not being able to see and they aren't touching the back wall.

I am 100% with you on the importance of a carpet area in upper grades!!! This year I did the bulk of my teaching (in 5th grade) at the carpet! I find that the kids are WAY more focused when we're in that close proximity. Your room is beautiful!

I love this!!! Thanks for the ideas. I have a small room and the way you set up the desks with shelves at the ends will work amazingly in my room! Thank it brilliant! AND the word wall under the white board! Again BRILLIANT!!!

LOVE IT! I have always believed in teaching on the floor....I have found that it always keeps the kids attention better. I hope to be able to find a way to incorporate most, if not all of your ideas...but I'd better hurry because our preplanning starts on 7/30! YIKES!

Love all your ideas I will be borrowing a few for the fall! I am your newest follower I love to see blogs about the upper grades and yours is fantastic. I teach 5 th grade reading and language arts, and social studies. I just started my own blog. Please visit and I would love it if you followed.www.classroomcraft.blogspot.com

Love this post! This will only be my second year in the same classroom - ever. I feel like I haven't really even settled in, because I always have to move again!

Anyway, so now that I know I'll be in this room again, I've really been thinking more about how to organize things. It's amazing what you have done with your space. Thanks for such a thorough and thoughtful post! I'll definitely refer to it later on when I start setting up my room. Of course, we're supposed to be into our new/renovated building in 2 years;) Everything is temporary, I guess! Thanks again!

Found your blog from the There's No Place Like Home linkup. Thanks for sharing your classroom photos and your super-detailed descriptions of various parts! I love how you do table points with algebra. Your organization center inspires me. :)

Your room is fantastic! Each corner is purposeful and organized. You really put lots of thought into it. I unfortunately can't get into my classroom until next month, but you sure have my brain going!! Thanks for the tour :)

WOWOWZERS! What an insightful post. Thanks for taking the time to share from so many perspectives within your room. I am grateful that you linked your post to my blog hop on organization..... I can see from the comments, how helpful this article is to others. I hope you have additional readers as a result of your linking up!

I was actually JUST talking about this with a colleague. I did give up my kidney table in favor of a rug...but I feel that having the rug outweighs having the kidney table. My rug is 9' by 12'...a standard "classroom" rug.

Thanks for all your pics! I got some good ideas. One question...what was the project you did with the little people hanging around the top of your room? I see that it was a writing project too... I am very interested in what you had them do! Thanks!